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All Systems Red (Dramatized Adaptation)
- The Murderbot Diaries, Book 1
- Narrated by: Alejandro Ruiz, Bradley Foster Smith, Holly Adams, Michael John Casey, Zeke Alton, Rayner Gabriel, Natalie Van Sistine, David Cui Cui, Khaya Fraites, Aure Nash, Megan Dorminy
- Length: 2 hrs and 33 mins
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All Systems Red (Dramatized Adaptation)
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Summary
A murderous android discovers itself in All Systems Red, a tense science fiction adventure by Martha Wells that interrogates the roots of consciousness through Artificial Intelligence.
"As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure."
In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.
But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.
On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid—a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.
But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.
Performed by David Cui Cui, Khaya Fraites, Zeke Alton, Alejandro Ruiz, Aure Nash, Bradley Foster Smith, Holly Adams, Megan Dorminy, Natalie Van Sistine, Michael John Casey, Rayner Gabriel, Shanta Parasuraman, Tanja Milojevic and Wyn Delano.
What listeners say about All Systems Red (Dramatized Adaptation)
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- F Needham
- 20-09-23
Not Recommended
All Systems Red and its sequels are great. I love the unabridged audiobooks read by Kevin R Free. I've liked full cast dramatizations of other books, although not tried any by the makers of this one. Until now. My verdict? I'd recommend sticking with the unabridged Murderbot Diaries audiobooks. I certainly won't be listening to this version again.
Mensah sounds too young for someone Murderbot reckons must be older to be in her leadership position.
Ratthi sounds sort of Irish? That's not a bad thing as such, it's just a bit odd considering no one else from Preservation Alliance sounds like that. Maybe Preservation has an Ireland?
I found it hard to tell who was saying what sometimes, and if Murderbot wasn't wearing its helmet it was sometimes hard to tell when it was speaking aloud rather than narrating the story. When Mensah was talking to Murderbot over the feed, it's all read in Murderbot's voice, despite the fact that it's mentioned in the first sequel, Artificial Condition, that a human's mental voice sounds like their physical voice.
I noticed at least one mistaken word that wasn't in the unabridged version, like 'parents' instead of 'partners.'
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Badger Badger
- 12-09-23
Narrators are the opposite of what we want
This was bad. Like, really, really bad. And I absolutely Love Murderbot - I push it on all of my friends and family and have listened to the original audiobook 10 times. First, the main Murderbot narrator speaks in a rushed voice and couldn’t read the words faster, let alone feel the words and emote the scene. Second, there was an opportunity to portray Murderbot - a high-profile, popular character - as non-binary, asexual or maybe even female. Nah. Third, Doctor Mensah is in all likelihood a middle-aged, woman of color yet her narrator sounded like a twenty-something on spring break. I hope Martha did not have a lot of input on this and that it encourages her to maintain more creative control over the inevitable show/movie/series. This audio sounds like it was made by non-fans of the series which is sad given the missed opportunities.
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29 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- AodhanFable
- 12-09-23
Not the characters I know and love :(
I went into this knowing it would be different but it’s so far off from what I expect/love/enjoy about the murderbot diaries that I couldn’t finish the last chapter. The voices don’t match the characters at all. The narrator and voice of our beloved murderbot/secunit sounded like they were trying to rush through every scene, sounding like a dude/bro with little to no emotion at all. The voice for Dr.Mensah, a middle aged women of color and distinguished academic, sounds like a teenage white girl from socal. Did the producers/cast even read the book?
I cannot recommend this version and hope they do not try to do the other books, especially not with this cast. Going to go back and listen to Kevin R. Freed and actually enjoy the story again.
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19 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Pete
- 21-09-23
Where's Kevin?
As a fan, Murderbot's voice can only be Mr Free. While everyone did a fine job, nothing was added to the story with the dramatization. And yet something critical was LOST and that was the absence of Mr Free's voice.
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Borden Fleetwood
- 16-10-23
This is Terrible.
The cast was competent, but the pacing destroyed an otherwise excellent book. I really enjoy Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries, and while I was sad to see that Kevin R. Free was NOT cast as Murderbot, I was glad to see the series get enough attention to rate a full cast.
Overall, the acting was competent. Not great, and most were clearly not familiar with the wider corpus of the series, but good enough to be an enjoyable listen, if not for the glaring problem of pacing and tone. I don't know if the director was incompetent, if the producers were pushing an untenable schedule, or if the actors were simply never in a room together, but the performances almost universally failed to capture the tone of the book. The actor playing the SecUnit sounded just so gosh-darned happy to be there, youthful and full of hope as he portrayed an anxious, depressed, worn out slave, contracted out as a cheap second-hand security device, and at a pace that felt like a dead sprint. The other cast members, too, sounded like they were just trying to get through their lines as quickly as they could while still playing a character. Almost like a sight-reading.
The entire tone of the book in text and in the original audio is one of hopeless boredom, leading into visceral terror, to creeping dread, and finally to catharsis. The narrating character continually exhibits a sense of fatalism and depression, intermixed with mortal terror. the supporting characters spend most of the book terrified, thinking on the fly, struggling to figure out what's going on and what to do to stay alive. Why wasn't that portrayed? Why did it feel like we were just trying to get to the end of the book?
This could have been a wonderful addition to the series. Instead it feels like a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure handed down from a board room executive.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lucy A. Pithecus
- 05-10-23
Mismatch of story & casts
The story is excellent, I love the dramatized effects (the clings and clangs). and the narrators are established performers, but this production is a mismatch.
First, this version is too fast. The original audiobook is 3 hours 17 minutes, and the dramatized version is 2 hours 30 minutes (the last few minutes in this version is a sample of another book). Just because the story is fast-paced, it doesn't mean the reading needs to be rapid. The book sounds to me like the narrators want to finish reading the book quickly and finish it. A more leisurely narration helps the readers to enjoy the story and the special effects. The people can talk fast, but the narration needs to be stable and clear.
Second, the narrator for Murderbot reads everything in a monotone - the story narration, the actions, the inter-thoughts, and the dialogues - everything sounds more or less the same. This technique could be good for non-fiction, but what's the point of dramatizing a book if the narration is flat?
Third, the voices of some characters sound out of character. For example, the voice of Dr. Mensha, who is an established middle-aged woman and a fearless leader, sounds too young. Yes, in real life, someone in her shoes could technically sound like that, but in an audiobook, we, the readers, want the character to sound like what we expect him/her/them to be unless there is a good reason for otherwise. Also, I (and my friend, who has only read the books and not listened to the audio versions) think Murderbot's voice should be lower. I do like the casts for Ratthi and Gurathin - they fit the personalities.
If you are new to the story and intrigued by the story, please listen to the original version narrated by Kevin R. Free. If you are a fan and curious, try this at your own risk. (I know about the risk, but I still can't resist.)
If you are looking for outstanding dramatized audiobooks, check out: "Good Omens - A Full Cast Production" by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, and narrated by the main actors in the TV show; "The Graveyard Book: Full-Cast Production" by Neil Gaiman; or "The Sandman" by Neil Gaiman, all three books, which are straight-out full cast books, not dramatized version of audiobooks, but the best dramatized audiobook ever.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jason
- 10-10-23
fun, but go with the audio book rather than this
Huge fan of the book series in print and audio. I snatched this up to have a new way to enjoy Murderbot. This story definitely benefits from a full cast! My complaints are all about the editing/production choices. 1. The edits cram audio information too close together to be easily parsed. The original audio book is much easier to understand in this regard.
2. Murderbot essentially needs three consistent voices or voice effects from its narrator: one to voice the dialogue, one to narrate the thoughts, and one to give voice to feed messages. Instead, this production chose to put effects on in-flight communications (but only on Murderbot's voice, even though there were other people on the flight talking - wth?). It was too little and too inconsistent to work for helping me to understand when Murderbot was talking out loud versus not. The original audio book's performance is able to subtly convey these voices. I had been hoping for a more obvious performance here that did not at all deliver.
3. I had hoped for sound effects that were more immersive, but they seem sort of added on timidly in the background.
I'd say pick this up if you enjoy the story already and therefore don't need to scramble to understand it. If you're new to Murderbot, go with the audio book narrated by Kevin R. Free. Their performance is great, and more easily understood. I really missed their performance of Pin Lee in particular.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Joyce Melvin
- 30-09-23
Not sure about this interpretation
I was really looking forward to this when I first saw it. I'm a big fan of Murderbot, and I love to see how different creative groups interpret the source material. in other words, I am that person who will watch and probably enjoy every variation of a book/movie/play that i like.
For this production, I'm not sure how successful this interpretation was. the added sound effects provided a surprisingly interesting environment. I didn't notice the music at all, but then I never notice the music in movies. the voice actors did a fine job, though I had difficulty telling characters apart in group scenes. unfortunately, some of the characters sounded very wrong. one who is a very serious and down to earth political leader sounded flippant and immature. the inflections were off (way off) for most of the production. towards the end, it was sounding better and finally hitting the emotional marks. these are production and directoral issues and not the fault of the actors.
this was my first Graphics Audio purchase, and it could very well be my last.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jyoung
- 16-09-23
Just, ok.
I have listened to the original audiobook version, several times. I was excited for this new version. If you’ve never listened to the original version, this enhanced version is a good introduction to the Murderbot series. However, I did not find it an improvement over the original.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Crater Eddie
- 28-09-23
Don't Bother!
Hated it. Kevin R. Free brings Murderbot and his humans to life. This was a poor reading with sound effects. If this had been my first experience with Murderbot, I would not buy any other. As it is, thank you Mr. Free, I can't wait for the next installment.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 26-09-23
Maybe the printed version was better???
For it’s award pedigree this dramatized version makes the material seem to be the writing of a novice. Should I give the book a read ??
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2 people found this helpful